More Than A Game

Chapter 5

Walking along the concreted path, I could feel the beads of rain slowly soaking in my shirt upon making my way home from the university. The seconds passed as I began to realize it was becoming darker.

"Crap." Groaning to myself, I wiped away the water building up against the back of my neck. I knew I should've tried to get home as quick as possible, but for reason I decided to go past the football oval. Maybe delaying my planned route home was the best way to let loose of the anger that built up inside since the meeting with Mr Grasswood.

I could feel my legs becoming restless which for me was a little strange since I had no problem spending most of my days walking from place to place. Within the distance, I could see a tall tree with leaves swaying in the cool breeze. Rushing up to the tree, I plopped myself against the log of the tree.

Looking up, I examined the football oval closely. Even though I was here just a couple of weeks ago for Brayden's grand finale, I never actually got a proper feel for the area. I'm not actually sure what it is about it, but somehow the oval feels more interesting during the evening than it does in the afternoons. It was an empty wide space but I could feel a sense of excitement and anticipation arousing around the oval. Looking more closely at the goalposts, I could see a figure moving within the distance.

I quickly pushed myself up and stood curiously, wondering who was at the goalposts. I looked at my watched and noticed it was already past 7:00. Is that you Brayden? I thought to myself.

Pushing my hands through my drenched hair, I could feel the water soaking into my hands. I already knew that Brayden was playing some football but I didn't exactly know where. I understood that Brayden was passionate about his football but sometimes I couldn't work out why he forced himself to be pushed harder than he needed to. 

I climbed over the wired fence and began making my way towards the goalposts. I only realized that I made it halfway when I yelled out. It took a while for the figure to notice I was standing and seemed startled when they eventually noticed I was standing here.

"Hey. What the hell are still doing out at this time?" I shouted as loud as I could. The figure was getting closer to me when I heard an angered response coming towards me.

"Jesus Ollie, I already told you I know what I'm doing. Haven't you better things to do than hassling me to stop training?"

Ollie? I stood still wondering if I should have went home in the first place. I took a quick glance at the figure who was wearing grey shorts and a black Port Adelaide jacket. That's funny, I thought Brayden barracked for Collingwood. Finally, it hit me; the figure at the goalposts wasn't Brayden but was in fact Chad.

"Carmen? I'm so sorry, I thought you were Ollie... Wait, what are you doing here?" He rushed up closer towards me while wearing a painted expression on his face. This made it really difficult to try and guess what he was thinking.

"I...I was coming back from some classes and was in the neighbourhood, and might have accidentally thought you were Brayden."

"I should get you under shelter, I don't want you from getting sick or anything like that." he said, bending over to pick up his bag which was left on the ground.

"It's alright, I think I can take care of myself Chad. I'm really sorry I interrupted your night."

I don't know why, but I seemed to wait a while for a reaction. To my surprise, he didn't say a thing but rather unzipped his jacket off and swung it over my shoulders as I could feel my cheeks starting warm up.

"No Chad, you shouldn't. Please take it back, it's yours anyway." I felt bad for begging but I didn't want him to get sick just to keep me warm.

"You should relax. I'm the one who feels bad because I can see you shivering and besides, I'm sure I can handle this weather." I looked down to see his hand zipping up the jacket.